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INTRODUCTION
The Western Governors University (WGU) graduation held on Saturday, February 10, 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah, was truly inspiring. At this celebration, the university awarded 495 degrees, with over 57 diplomas handed to graduates who converged on the city from more than 20 states. WGU faculty members also gathered from across the United States and arrayed in their academic robes, were meeting with their distance students for the first time in person. However, their voices were familiar to them, having spoken by phone and e-mail to each student several times monthly over the years.
President Robert Mendenhall greeted the assembly of family, friends, and WGU staff in Abravanel Hall, a large auditorium and home of the Utah Symphony (WGU having outgrown previous venues). Mendenhall explained that those graduating during this most recent 6 months represented about a third of graduates from the rapidly expanding university. He reflected on WGU's remarkable growth-from roughly 600 students in eight degree programs with 33 graduates at regional accreditation in 2003-to more than 7,500 students, more than 40 degree programs, and 1,581 graduates today.
Commencement speaker Bess Stephens, vice president of corporate philanthropy and education at Hewlett Packard and a WGU board member, exemplifies the struggles of an African American leader to advance her education and career. She boasts advanced degrees in chemistry and education, rising to her position as global director of HP's Foundation. Stephens spoke on lifelong learning. Applauding WGU, she remarked, "Students can work school into the flexibility of their schedules. They aren't limited by time and place but their own willingness to commit and meet the requirements'' (McFarland, 2007).
For me, the highlight was graduate speeches, particularly that of Joel Ellington. His father, a dirt-poor farmer in the Ozarks in Oklahoma, had no more than a third grade education. Joel, the sixth of 10 children, was one of the few to finish high school. A watershed experience happened in his senior year, when a high school counselor asked Joel whether his future plans included college. That possibility had never entered his mind. When he learned that it was doable, Joel improved his grades to enter and graduate with two associate's degrees from a junior college in Idaho where he also met his wife....